Book 4: Aftermath
by Mr. animefan
Summary: When the war ends, everything should be running peacefully. Aang is getting married, Zuko is the new fire lord, and the war is over. But is that what the people want? Especially a new group that not only want the war to resume, but the Avatar's head. Rated T for blood, violence, torture, and killing.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story so I do hope your expectations are not too high. Thank you to the authors who are in this. (Also, if you feel like joining in on the fun others, feel free to ask). This story takes place about a month after the end of season 3. :)

* * *

Sokka and Suki were roaming around the marketplace in Ba Sing Se. They had stopped by the city to see how the kyoshi warriors were doing. Sokka was looking at swords while Suki was getting some food, mostly meat for Sokka.

Sokka wandered around for a bit after not finding a sword that piqued his interest, and then heard some weird things coming from the center of the market.

"...and that is why it is our right to stand up against our former oppressors. We must have our revenge! And then there's the Avatar..."

Sokka was now concerned. "What?"

Sokka rushed towards the source of the words.

Suki looked back to ask Sokka a question, but he was long gone. 'Oh great,' she thought, 'now what's he up to?'

* * *

Sokka ran as fast as he could to the man in the center of a rather medium sized crowd.

The man was medium in height, and a little on the lean side. He wore a heavy looking cloak, and a green mask over his face. The mask itself was kind of disturbing, looking somewhat reptilian with red eyes and a sharp-toothed grin. As Sokka now shoved his way closer, he could now listen even more clearly to the protest that was going on.

"The avatar has basically saved the fire nation from what they deserved. He made sure to appoint a friend of his as ruler, instead of letting the people of the terrible nation even decide themselves. It's not like they even deserve to choose, but he shouldn't have even bestowed it upon himself. Why didn't we get a say in what happened. Kind of like how he let Buhmi rule both Omashu and now Ba Sing Se."

"You do realize that's kind of contradictory to what you just said."

The man looked at Sokka, though it was hard to tell if he was surprised, or amused.

"And what's your-"

"My name is Sokka, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't badmouth the Avatar."

The man put his hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"Why don't we hear from these people what they think if you don't want me to ramble on all day."

From the crowd, many voices surfaced.

"The Avatar has enough power to destroy a nation, he's dangerous."

"He saved the fire nation! He helped them escape justice!"

"The Avatar is evil!"

Sokka couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What are you people saying!"

The man now put his arm around him as he yelled to the crowd. "Here's one of the villains that robbed you of your vengeance!"

He threw Sokka into the crowd, where he began getting punched, kicked, and at one time cut by a knife. All while listening to the man speak.

"Yes, punish him. He is worse than any firebender! He is as horrible as the Avatar!"

Eventually Sokka was kicked in the head by someone and nearly lost consciousness.

After about a minute of this violence, there was a very loud, "STOP!"

Everyone looked up to see a water bender, about 16 years old, wearing her hair in two curls, and looking extremely pissed off.

Katara strolled over to Sokka, and anyone who tried to mess with her was quickly frozen. When she finally got to him, Suki had also arrived at the scene.

Katara helped get Sokka to his feet, while Suki helped take Sokka home. After the two were a safe distance away, Katara then focused on the man in the green mask.

"Who are you! Why are you bad-mouthing the Avatar, and attacking people?"

The man stared at her for what seemed like the longest time.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Again, no response.

Then the man did an earthbending move, dropping himself below the ground.

Katara went to run after him, but he closed the entrance behind him. She then looked at the crowd of protestors.

"Are you really against the person who saved you from getting enslaved or killed by the fire nation!"

A few of them looked a little uneasy, as the leader of the little rally was gone. Still, a voice came from a civilian.

"He let the fire nation get off scot free!"

Katara walked up to the man, who was much taller and much more heavily built. This didn't phase Katara though, as she stared him in the eyes while talking to him.

"What exactly is wrong with peace? Isn't that what we fought for in the war?"

"Yeah and what _I_ said was being contradictory."

The man appeared behind Katara and kicked her in the back of the legs, making her fall to her knees. The man in front of her punched her in the face, knocking her out.

The man with the green mask looked towards the group of people.

"Those who work with the Avatar are evil and WEAK! We must defeat them! We must have JUSTICE!"

The crowd cheered. As they disbanded, the heavily muscled man and the man with the green mask stayed by Katara.

The man with the mask looked closer at Katara. He seemed to be analyzing her unconscious body.

"Osuushi, this is the waterbender girl... the one that is the Avatar's fiancé."

Osuushi nodded his head.

The masked man took away her pouch of water and dug a dart out of his pack.

The green masked man asked his accomplice, "Would you mind carrying her for me?"

Osuushi nodded again.

Katara started to stir and opened her eyes. "What?"

"Aw, she's waking up, how precious." The man jabbed her in the neck with the dart, making her go limp, though still conscious.

"Let's get going, sir." Osuushi looked over to see Suki and some of the kyoshi warriors running towards them.

"Of course." The man in the green mask opened a hole and the three of them dropped through it, and the hole sealed back up as the warrior women came to it.

Suki stomped on the ground where the men once stood. "DARNIT!"

* * *

Suki went to the inn room that she had gotten for Sokka. He was now sitting upright, looking a little better, but still a little weak.

He looked up at her with a weak smile. "It's a good thing I always have my little sister and girlfriend around to save me."

Suki gave a forced smile in return. Sokka could tell she was hiding something. "What happened?"

Suki sighed and told Sokka what happened.

Sokka groaned as he tried to stand up. Suki walked over to him to sit him back down. "You're in no position to be looking for her."

"I've got to though," he said, struggling against Suki, "I can't just lay here not knowing is my sister's getting maimed or killed or who knows what!"

Sokka continued to freak out until Suki slapped him across the face.

"Get a grip! Listen, we'll find her! Besides, it's Katara we're talking about. She can take care of herself."

That seemed to calm Sokka down. "Ok, but we should still try to hurry and find her. You know she is going to get married soon."

Suki nodded her head. "That's why I have the most serious and trustworthy people looking for her."

"Hey Suki!" The high-pitched sound came from a familiar looking kyoshi warrior. "Where should I start looking?"

Sokka gave Suki a disbelieving glance.

"TY LEE! REALLY!"

* * *

Aang had been a little late getting to Ba Sing Se because he still had some things to do with Zuko, like moving certain fire nation colonies out of certain areas and so forth. Aang had originally scheduled going to Ba Sing Se by himself, but then Katara had wanted to go too, and ended up going to Ba Sing Se ahead of him. Then he heard Sokka and Suki were going to be there, too.

'We only need Toph and it'll be a reunion.' Aang had thought about inviting her along, but he remembered that she never really did like Ba Sing Se, so he decided not to contact her.

When Aang had gotten to Ba Sing Se, most of the civilians seemed a little wary of him. He decided he would ask Sokka about this. Aang looked around some inns until he finally got the answer that Sokka was there. As he was about to go in, he heard Sokka and Suki whispering something.

"_What the heck are we going to say when Aang gets here?"_

_"Uhh, I don't know."_

_"WELL WE NEED TO THINK OF SOMETHING! I don't think he's going to be heppy that his fiancé is gone!"_

_"I know, but I don't think he'll get mad at us."_

_"I know, but if he gets angry, the building is gonna go up."_

_"I thought he had that under control."_

_"After the fight with Ozai, something snapped in him."_

Aang backed away from the door. Katara is missing. Why is she missing? Where is she? What happened?

Aang was about to walk into the room when Ty Lee came running up to him.

"Hey Aang, how's it going?"

Aang sternly looked at her. "What happened?"

Ty Lee sighed and told Aang about what happened.

* * *

When Katara woke up, she found she was in a nice room with a comfortable bed she was laying on. There were paintings of Ba Sing Se, Omashu, the North and South poles, and even a few of the air temples. What was weird is that the painter must have been brilliant, because the paintings looked extravagant. She then looked around the room for an escape, and saw both a door and a window. She looked out the window to see she was in some sort of cave, and if she were to drop, it would be 200 ft. downwards.

_Click!_

Katara turned around to see a man in a silver mask, resembling a bird's beak and two tiny black eyes. He was very tall, and scrawny looking. He was wearing a grey jacket, and black pants. He was standing by the doorway, casually standing there. Katara advanced toward him.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The man tilted his head, as if pondering her question, before finally shrugging.

"Let me go."

The man shook his head.

"Falcon, leave, will you? You're going to frighten poor Katara."

Both the man in the mask and Katara turned around to see an eighteen year old man sitting in a chair behind a desk. He had a pair of round glasses, and a white tuxedo on his pale, rather fragile looking body. He had a warm, pleasant face, with medium length black hair, and white teeth formed in the shape of a grin.

The man referred to as Falcon left, giving a quick bow to the man behind the desk.

Katara was now alone with this man. He was busy pouring tea into two glasses. She decided she was through with being polite. She waterbended the tea and held both of his hands to the wall, freezing the tea so he was stuck.

"Who are you, and why am I here!" Katara screamed.

The man looked at Katara, showing a little irritation.

"Now Katara, was that really necessary? I mean, you always were the calm one."

Katara furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

The man yawned. "Now now, one question at a time. First off I am Otokorashi Otoko. I am from somewhere you have never heard of, and someplace you'll never see.  
Also, You are here because I am.  
Next, what I meant was that usually it was Sokka who turned to violence first. But then again you are here without anyone to help you, so technically you were still the last to resort to violence, but still the first."

Katara was getting confused by the man.

"Oh yes, and you can call me Otoko for short, but soon, you'll be referring to me as master."

Katara glared at Otoko. "I don't think so. You're going to help get me out of here, _Otoko._"

Otoko whistled and soon Falcon came out of nowhere, restraining Katara's arms.

Otoko broke out of the ice. "I did hope you would be more cooperative, I mean, I gave you a luxury room and all. Maybe I know something that'll make you more willing to serve. But don't worry, you'll be able to leave as you like after this."

Otoko walked up close to Katara. She struggled against Falcon's grip, until Otoko placed a finger upon Katara's forehead. His finger started glowing, and soon Katara stopped struggling. She went limp. "That's more like it."

* * *

Zuko entered his palace after being away for a few days. He had, for the most part, gotten most of his new duties as fire lord caught up. They were very tedious. He had to settle affairs with either getting rid of fire nation soldiers and families from certain towns, (and that was easier said than done), or trying to help fire nation families settle affairs and be able to stay in the earth nation villages and such, (again, very hard).

Zuko was extremely relieved when he got home. However, his mood changed when he saw Rika and Tanpa Emosi, (two of the guards that worked there).

Rika, who was always smiling and cheery looking, was now bothered looking. Though Tenpa kept his usual emotionless expression.

They both bowed respectively.

"How was your business today sir?" Tanpa asked him.

Zuko didn't respond to him though, as he was to busy looking at Rika's worried expression.

He asked Rika, "What happened?"

Rika looked up at him and bit her lip. "Katara was... uhhhh..."

"What happened?"

Tanpa stepped in. "She was kidnapped by a man in a mask. We don't know where she is now. The avatar and his companions over at Ba Sing Se are sure to work on it."

Zuko rubbed his forehead. "Well, we have to go help them."

Rika nodded her head. "Yeah. let's go!"

As the two of them started walking towards the door, Tanpa shut the door and halted them.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Tenpa's monotone voice didn't falter as he stood facing the now angered fire lord.

Zuko glared at him. "I order you to step down."

Tenpa shook his head. "Sir, you don't have the time to go and search for mistress Katara. You have your own duties as fire lord, and besides, the Avatar will find her."

Rika slouched. "Aw, you're right, but I still wanna be able to do something!"

Suddenly the doors flew open and a man with a red, dragon mask stood there. Before anyone could say anything, he started shooting flames all around the palace interior. Zuko and the two guards took cover.

Tenpa, still bored-looking, glanced over to Rika. "You can start by helping me defend the palace."

Rika flew up into the air and shot some fire at the masked man, while Tenpa ran back to his quarters.

Zuko was also shooting fire at the intruder. "Where is he going!"

Rika flashed a smile. "Oh he'll be back. He's just going to get something."

The intruder easily dodged and blocked the attacks, never really going after either of the two, but continuing to burn down the palace.

Zuko and Rika decided they had to put a stop to him, no matter what. They bother started to draw electricity in the air.

'Even if he can reflect one lightning bolt, there's no way he can deflect two.' Rika thought.

The man looked at the both of them as they released the lightning. He simply turned out of the way as the lightning flew by him, leaving him completely unscathed.

Just then, the man fell. Both Zuko and Rika were surprised at first, but then they saw Tanpa holding a weird contraption.

Tanpa yawned. "Well, that was uneventful."

The duo gave him an astonished look. They turned to look back at the intruder, but found only a small pool of blood and a note where he had been laying.

Tanpa walked over and picked up the note. 'Warm regards from Mr. Otoko.' He then looked up at the two of them. "Now I get it. We're going to Ba Sing Se."

The two gave him a questioning glance, but then Rika smiled. "Yay! We get to see Aang and the guys again!"

* * *

I'm terrible at ending chapters... and writing for that matter, but oh well. Sorry if it was worse than you were expecting, and sorry it took so long. Hopefully the next chapter will be sooner. Until then, good-bye. :)


	2. chapter 2

Something I forgot to address last chapter, I don't own Avatar, and most of the characters in this story I did not create. Lord Vrel, Tigerchick1214, Kegusaran 14, and Lustig Morder made most of the villains, and the two guards. As for who made which character, well, I'm planning on doing something with this information, but I'll say later on. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

Iroh was happy. The Jasmine Dragon was having some good business today, and he was getting nothing but compliments about his tea shop. When he was serving a nice couple, he took a quick glance out the doorway and saw two people, a man and a woman, crouching by the doors, looking deep in thought. After he got done serving the tea, he walked up to the two.

"May I be of assistance?"

The two didn't respond, as they were still busy looking at the wall. Iroh gazed at them curiously before looking at the wall. There was a wanted poster hanging up, with two people's faces on it. One was a man with a big grin and small, spiky hair. The other was a woman with long hair that went down her back, and very cute features.

Iroh then looked back at the two people and saw that it was them. The man and woman both seemed to be staring closely at their wanted poster. Finally, after about 3 minutes, the man stood up straight. He spoke to his companion in a loud, energetic voice. "I got eight, you?"

The woman's voice was much softer and kinder sounding, though very quiet, almost to a point where you couldn't hear it. "I have thirteen."

The man grinned. "Wow! Those guys never learn. Maybe we should pay them a visit today, eh?"

The woman nodded. Before they could leave, Iroh stepped in front of them.

The man with the spiky hair smiled. "Or maybe I could just get one now."

Iroh looked at the two sternly. "What exactly are you two doing?"

The man then frowned. "But that would be silly if I just went and killed 7 of them, since I had eight flaws in my picture."

Iroh spoke in a dangerous tone. "If you want to kill someone, you'll have to answer to me!"

The man continued to speak to himself. "Well now he's asking for it. Ugh, should I do the logical thing, or should I be polite and kill him?"

He then turned to the woman. "What do you say, Shizu?"

The woman spoke back in her quiet tone. "Just wait, Freude."

The man nodded, but still had a worried look on his face. "But what if I never see this man again? Shizu, he's begging me to kill him. He just looks so determined. Look at him!"

The woman put a hand to the man's cheek. "If you really would like, you can kill him."

The man smiled. "Thanks for helping me solve my problem, love."

Iroh shook his head. "You two are weird."

Iroh then shot fire at the two, who both swiftly dodged. "I'll take the left, you go for the right."

The man whipped out a sword. The woman waterbended from her pouch, freezing Iroh's feet together.

Iroh dodged the man's attack and and unfroze his feet after shooting them with fire. He got into an attack position, only to find the two had vanished.

Groaning, he went back to the Jasmine Dragon to put up the closed sign. "Hopefully I'll be able to get them before the day's over, I can open again."

* * *

Toph had been doing pretty well after splitting from 'Team Avatar'. Now, she was Ba Sing Se's rip off artists' worst nightmare. She had a bounty on her head for about eight hundred thousand silver pieces. She usually had to defend herself from bounty hunters and the con artists themselves, but that wasn't much. Not to mention she wasn't hated by everyone, in fact she even had her own fans and apprentices.

Today she was just getting a disguise ready as she was going to be in the audience of one of her apprentices going up against a con. She was going to do the usual, bend the rock back to the table whenever the man would try to slide the rock into his sleeve.

Just as she was about to walk out, she felt someone running up, as well as hearing shouting. "Get him! He's getting away! Come back here you little thief!"

As he ran by her door, she grabbed him and pulled him in. She waited until she heard the guards run past the house. She then turned to the person who was running.

"Who are you?"

She didn't hear anything. She could still feel him there, though, standing there, facing her.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

The boy flinched a bit at that. He tried to walk past her, but she stopped him.

"I'm not about to let you leave until I get a thank you."

The boy breathed deeply.

"Can you even talk?"

The boy shook his head.

Toph nodded. "Oh, well why didn't you just say so? So what did you steal?"

The boy just stood there, wondering if she was joking at his expense.

"Oh right, yes or no questions only, did you steal money?"

The boy shook his head.

"Food?"

He nodded.

"For yourself?"

He shook his head again.

"For someone else?"

He nodded.

Toph smiled. "Well that's sweet, tell you what, I'll help you along, and if the guards come back, I'll defend you."

The boy continued to gaze at her, wondering what to do. Finally he nodded.

"Ok, what should I call you? How about Mute?"

The boy frowned and shook his head.

"How about Furu?"

The boy slammed his hand on his face, but reluctantly shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

"Great, let's get going. I'm Toph by the way."

The boy nodded.

They walked out of the house together.

* * *

Carina had just finished getting the soup ready for her mother. Her mother had been deathly ill for quite a while now, and she usually needed constant care. Her father had passed away two years ago, and her brother and sister were both captured by fire nation guards during the war.

"But not for much longer."

She gave the soup to her mother as she coughed. Seeing her mother in pain always made Carina want to cry, but she smiled at her mother instead, not wanting her to see anything negative. After all, she was about to get her two other children back.

"Mom, I have to go soon, so please be well when I come back."

Her mother nodded weakly.

Carina then set out for the prison that was just outside their house. waited for a guard to be alone, then attacked him. She snapped his neck and put on his suit. She then got his keys to open the door and went inside.

She tried not to talk to too many other guards as she made her way to the cells. As she went near the one she knew to hold her sister, another guard came up to her.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before, do I know you?"

She resisted the urge to kill the abominable fire bender as she smiled and spoke in a rather sweet voice. "Nope, I'm new here. Hey, you seem like a nice, strong fire bender, do you know where the keys to the cells are?"

The guard flushed.

"Well, uh, I have em."

Carina nodded. "So, could you please open this cell right here, the prisoner is supposed to be out today."

The guard suddenly got a stern look. "No, she's not. She is here for another three years, and I know that to be a fact. Who told you otherwise?"

Carina gave a charming smile. "I did."

In a swift move Carina punched the guard in a nerve, making him fall to the floor.

"If you say one thing, just remember your neck is completely exposed."

The guard remained silent as Carina stole his keys and went into the prison and helped her sister escape.

Her sister, named Ash, looked at the guard.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

Carina smiled at her handiwork. "Circus."

She then stomped on the guards neck, killing him, before running to get their brother.

* * *

Zuko and his two guards went by the prison when they were leaving, being rather quick. They wanted to hurry up and get to Ba Sing Se. Tenpa suddenly stopped.

Zuko looked back. "Tenpa hurry up! Why did you stop?"

Tenpa stared at a bush near the building before looking back at Zuko.

"Your highness, I know it's probably wrong to delay the mission at hand, but I believe there is a freshly killed guard hidden carelessly in this bush."

Both Zuko and Rika had to do a double take on what he said.

Rika rushed over and stared in amazement. "Sheesh, I wonder what happened to him!"

Tenpa pushed up his glasses as he inspected him.

"Snapped neck, signs of struggle, looks to be less than an hour ago."

Rika smiled. "It always astounds me how you're able to do that."

Tenpa looked to the prison. "It seems as though there is someone inside there that's masquerading as a guard."

Zuko groaned. "Great, now we have to worry about this too!"

Rika then looked towards the entrance and smiled even bigger. "Hey guys, you'll never believe this! I think I found them!"

Running from the entrance was a female guard it seemed, along with two former inmates.

Zuko quickly took pursuit, followed by Rika. Tenpa stood, contemplating what to do. He was about to go after them as well, but then he saw two people coming towards him with blood on their clothes.

* * *

Katara was sitting in her room, thinking about the her captors... or friends? She needed to escape and go back to... somebody? Wait, why? Who would she go back to? Her friends were the masks, along with Otoko, who was like a father to her... wait. Otoko was, who again?

She heard the door open again and in walked Otoko.

He sat by her. "So, what's troubling you, dear?"

Katara felt comfort, rage, and fear all at the same time, but didn't know why. "I don't know. I think I'm going crazy. I keep thinking you're my love, and then I keep thinking other random thoughts. I just... I don't know what to think."

Katara looked down, not wanting to face this man, whoever he was.

She was surprised when she felt a hug come from him. Part of her told her to fight it, but she just let him hug her. She didn't want it to end. She loved being in his arms, or did she. She was starting to get a headache from all of this.

He lifted her chin up so she would see him. He looked familiar, and yet also very foreign. She didn't know or care which it was, she just wanted to have it be one and leave it at that.

Otoko gave her a charming smile. "How about I have Falcon play you some music, I know you love that. It always helps you relax."

Katara couldn't speak at the moment, so she just nodded slightly. Otoko grinned, making Katara smile just a bit, too.

She fell back onto her bed as she heard her best friend, or someone named Falcon at the least, start to play from the instrument in her room. She didn't know what it was called, but it sounded so beautiful. She felt herself relax. Then she heard a voice in her head, making the conflict that had been raging inside of her suddenly be more clear.

'Otoko is your master. You bonded after he found you with your mother, the only family you ever had. He helped you after the fire nation had taken her away from you. You quickly began to look towards the mask organization as a family. They are your dearest friends. How could you possibly forget them?'

Suddenly, memories upon memories began filling her head, and memories of her and Aang, her and Sokka, and basically all of her old memories began to vanish without a trace.

"How could I forget my family?" Katara asked herself as she felt even more soothed by the music. Falcon was always like a brother to her, and she loved it when she helped her relax like this.

'Otoko took you in when everyone else just looked at you and left. He is like a father to you. You will always back Otoko up on anything. He's always right. He, Falcon, Reptile, and all of the others, they are your family.'

With these comforting thoughts to help her stop being confused, Katara finally went to sleep, in her home, surrounded by family.

* * *

Carina had finally escaped from the fire nation prince as she and her two siblings went into an alleyway. They stopped to catch their breath. Carina then faced her siblings.

"Ok, guys. I found out that there is this organization to help people who have been hurt by the fire nation. They call themselves the masks. You need to find them."

"Or, we could find you."

The three looked up, startled, as a man with a bird mask reminiscent to Falcon's dropped by.

"Hello, my name is Hawk, and I'll gladly help you three."

Carina smiled. "Wow, you guys are good. I need to get back home."

Ash looked worried. "Is mom alright?" she asked.

Carina's brother, Tochi, also looked concerned.

Carina shrugged. "She's not getting any better, but she's still alive. I really need to go back and check on her. She needs medicine every twelve hours and I just gave her some in her soup a few hours ago. It takes a while to make more so I really have to hurry."

Hawk nodded. "Don't worry, we masks have plenty of medicine. If we can move your mother to our quarters, we can be able to possibly fix whatever ails her."

Carina's eyes gained a light of hope not seen for a long time. "Really?"

Ash and Tochi were equally happy.

Hawk removed his mask, revealing a rather dashing looking man, with short, dark hair and light blue eyes. Carina blushed for a short second before returning to her usual self, nobody saw the blush however as she was still wearing her mask.

"I promise you that we have the medicine for your mother." said Hawk.

Carina couldn't have been more ecstatic at the moment. "Great, lets go there first, and then we can go back to your place and find the medicine."

Hawk gave a smile that could've melted the North Pole and let her lead the way.

* * *

A/N: So yeah, here's the chapter that some of you peoples have been waiting for. Please give me tips on how to write better if you're seeing any major mistakes, and if you're confused by anything tell me. I really like reading replies so if you can, please leave one, and if you don't feel like typing one, sorry to bother you. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I just made some changes for the future plot, which I've been working on for a while. Hopefully this new one will be better. Anyway, I'm going to try to update faster because, there are about ten Avatar fics updated a day, so if I want my story to be seen, I need to go faster.

* * *

Aang had been searching for two days now, not knowing where else in Ba Sing Se to look. He had earthbended at the spot where the mob had been, but he didn't find anything. He also noticed more and more that people around the city seemed less eager to help.

Aang had no clues, no leads, and overall, no plan as to how to resolve the predicament. Nobody who was willing to talk knew anything, and even those who were now distant from him knew very little. Aang finally returned to the inn where Sokka and Suki had made their new Ba Sing Se base. Sokka energetically greeted him.

"Hey Aang, did you find anything?"

Aang shook his head. Sokka went back to his room and sat down to think. "Where could they be? It's a safe bet that they're still in the city. He could've escaped, but I've been listening around, and as it turns out, the guy is still making little rallies here and there."

Aang sat down beside his close friend. "Why would he want me dead? I brought peace to the world, I brought the nations together."

"I guess we should've thought about some leftover spite."

Aang punched a wall, actually leaving a small crack in it, as well as making his hand a little bloody from the impact. "Why would he kidnap Katara? What could he gain from that? There haven't been any negotiations made!"

Aang started pacing around the room. "He throws rallies about how the fire nation and I are evil, that we should be eradicated, and then goes after my fiancé without facing me like a man, and who knows what he's doing to her!"

Sokka put a hand on Aang's shoulder. "I know Aang. Just calm down. We can and will find her. We just need to find one of these rallies and find him again. And if we can't catch him, we find someone who knows where he is and get the information from them one way or another."

Aang sat down on the floor. He looked at Sokka with hopeful eyes. "You think so?"

Sokka nodded slowly.

Aang smiled a little bit. "Ok, we just need to find out when and where the next rally."

_Rap! Rap! Rap!_

Aang and Sokka looked to the door to see Suki. She stood with a serious look on her face. "There's an angry mob approaching the inn. The man is leading them."

* * *

"So then I left home to join the Avatar." Toph was just telling Furu about her life. They had just gotten done delivering the food that Furu had. Toph saw that it was a mother and two little girls that Furu had helped. The woman's husband had left her, and she had a son die not long ago. The duo gave the food and left almost immediately, but not before the three gave their thanks..

"Why don't you tell me about where you're from? I'll ask some yes or no questions."

The boy shrugged, which she took as a yes. "Do you live here?"

The boy shrugged, but then shook his head. "Do you live in the fire nation?"

The boy shook his head. "Anywhere in the Earth Kingdom, or the Water tribes?"

Again, the boy kept shaking his head. "Wait, so you're from the air temples?"

The boy kept walking for awhile, without nodding or shaking his head.

Furu looked away, contemplating what to 'say' to Toph, when he accidently bumped into someone.

The man had spiky hair and a knife in hand.

"Hey," the man said, irritated, "at least say you're sorry when you bump into someone."

Furu put up his hands, trying to signal that he didn't want to start a fight, but the man still brought the knife to Furu's neck. Toph noticed this and metal-bended the knife into a less harmful shape.

Then a rather pretty woman came and took the knife away and whispered something into the man's ear.

"Oh, ok Shizu. My apologies young mute. You and the blind girl have a nice day." The man then skipped along as the woman followed.

Toph tilted her head. "What was up with tha-, wait! Someone else is coming."

Iroh appeared out of an alleyway. "Nice to see you again, Toph."

* * *

Carina knelt beside her mother, as she was still coming to grips with what she saw. There her mother lay, eyes open wide and mouth hung open in surprise, and a red, soaking pool of blood coming from her center. It was presumed to be a knife, he said.

"Damnit!" Tochi screamed. "We get hope, and this is what happens! What the hell!"

Ash tried calming down her younger brother, as Hawk leaned on the doorway, waiting for them to be done.

"I'm sorry, but it's just the damn irony is what pisses me off the most! We were so damn close! We all could've been happy, damnit!"

Ash had tears streaming down her face as she put her hand over his mouth. "I know."

Carina held her mother's head, and hugged it. She then closed her eyes and mouth, which also had some blood dripping from it. "Goodbye mom."

Tochi and Ash also made their goodbyes. Hawk watched with interest as he saw the trio dig a hole in the yard behind the house and bury their mother. They each said some words as she was buried. They but the land back down into place, and Carina went back to him. "Before I join you, I want the one who did this to her."

Hawk shook his head. "I can't allow that. You're either with us now, or never to hear from us forever."

Carina looked back to her siblings, who were still sitting by the grave of their mother. "I can't let my kid siblings be alone. Please take them in, and I'll be on my own. I must have the man or woman responsible."

Hawk shook his head again as he replied. "That won't do. It's you we're interested in. If I were to bring in two who could not fight or speak, two we knew little about, I would be severely punished. They are of no asset to me, you are. If your condition is to bring family along, then so be it, but you must make a promise that you will do what Master Otoko says, and you can't go roaming the streets looking for a murderer. I can't say I feel sympathy for you, but I will say I know what it feels like to have lost someone. You get used to it."

Carina scowled at the masked figure before her. "Don't ever tell me that. You should know damn well that if you've lost someone, there is no forgetting. You don't get over it. For fifteen years, I haven't gotten over my father's death. I have lost two members of my family, and I'll never get over that! I am not about to let two more go, so I'm not asking, I'm begging, take them in, and I'll be with you as soon as I have the perpetrator's head."

Hawk tilted his head. "Oh, and tell me two things. "Why should I agree with those requests, and why do you need the guilty one's head?"

Carina looked down. "Someone needs to answer for it. And like I said, I'm begging here. Please!"

She looked back up at Hawk. He was looking up at the sky. "De-ja-vu."

"What?"

"Nothing will be gained by killing one person you possibly do or don't know. It won't bring her back. Now I need an answer, because the prince and his guards will be here shortly."

Carina looked around nervously for the guards. "Fine, I'll join."

Hawk smiled. "Great. Dragon, keep the prince busy."

The man with the red dragon mask on dropped from the ceiling and nodded to Hawk. He walked outside and then started to run.

Hawk pulled Carina and motioned for the other two to follow. "Don't worry, there's an escape hatch close to here. We'll use it to get to HQ."

* * *

Katara woke up the next morning, feeling much more comfortable than she had been the previous two nights. She got out of bed, put on some clothes, and then got her mask.

The mask she had worn before, again and again, to help stop the fire nation, and to help the cause of the masks. She dawned her blue cat mask, and went out of her room. She walked past Otoko.

"Morning, master."

Otoko smiled as she walked by.

"Good morning, Cat."

She walked out the door of the building, and went on her way to the fire nation capitol. Her assignment was to check up on Hawk.

Otoko stretched. It was a good day. Everything was as it should be, except for the kid. It didn't matter, though. Reptile would get him soon enough.

* * *

A thief by the name of Lee ran down a street, being chased by guards, a hand quickly yanked him in and threw him to a chair.

Lee looked around, and heard the guards run past.

"Thanks, whoever you are. You saved me."

Lee then felt something creep up his back and arms. He looked down to see water freezing him to the chair. The water then stuck itself to his mouth, making him unable to talk.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Lee Tei Dorobo, I am Freude, and this is my lovely partner Shizu."

A man appeared from the darkness, as well as a woman. They both seemed familiar to Lee.

Lee tried to speak, but the ice over his mouth wouldn't let him.

"So, Lee, what have you done today? Stealing? Murdering? How about rape? Any of that today?"

Lee shook his head.

"What the hell then? Why would mice chase something like you if there's no cheese. There's no brag in your name unless you do something. So tell me, lowlife to Freude, what did you do?"

Lee tried to explain that he was being chased for something he didn't do, which was a lie as he had beaten a man and his kid in public. Unfortunately, the ice was still over his mouth.

"What? You, you what? Oh that's horrible. You sick son of a bitch. What else did you do?"

Lee was confused and getting angry. He tried yelling through the ice, but to no effect.

"Well, it seems as though you've been a busy man. Now, have you heard of this new theory floating around. If you're not the avatar, then when you die, you either go to this place called heaven, or to a place called hell. Now heaven is supposed to be this great place, with all this beauty and purity and all this other make believe shit. Then hell, endless fire and torture coming from these red skinned horned guys. Now, bad guys go there. Do you think you're a bad guy?"

Lee shook his head, getting a little worried with where this was going.

"Ok. Well, I'll tell you what. If you make it to heaven, and there's all that beauty and such, well, I'll expect a thank you."

Freude got out his knife and put it close to Lee's neck.

"If, though, you end up in hell. I'll make it up to you. When I reach there as well, after I'm done killing those who think themselves unkillable, if that's even a word, then I'll kill you too. Then you won't have to burn. But then again, what will happen if I kill the dead? Will you come back here? Will you just stay alive, and I can keep stabbing and slicing? Oh the possibilities are endless. Well, I can't wait to find out. So Lee, I'll give you a little head start, and I'll see you there. Take care buddy."

Lee looked through watery eyes as his captor swung his knife, and he felt a terrible pain in his neck for about a second or two, before finally seeing black.

Shizu unfroze the water. "Freude, don't talk about things you don't believe in."

Freude shrugged. "It's not like there's anything right _to _believe in."

They then walked out of the house as they heard a guard scream "Check the buildings!".

Freude smiled. "You know what I wish for when I die?"

Shizu smiled at Freude's question. "What?"

"I wish I could be surprised."

Freude then jumped out of the way as two rocks slammed together where he was standing.

* * *

Reptile was at the head of an angry mob of Ba Sing Se civilians. He grinned behind his mask as the Avatar and three others came out to greet them.

Reptile walked out from the angry mob to greet the four, Aang in front of the other three, who were there in case of trouble.

"Salutations Avatar Aang."

Sokka stepped next to Aang. "Skip the formalities, and tell us where Katara is. We don't want to have to hurt you!"

Reptile walked right up to Sokka and had his face just an inch from Sokka's.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Sokka slowly backed up behind Aang.

"Like we said, we don't want to have Aang hurt you."

Reptile stepped back, chuckling. "Right. Well, if all you want is Katara, I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about."

Suki stepped next to Aang.

"Don't play dumb, you and your friend took her down a tunnel."

Reptile nodded. "That is correct, we did take a girl down a tunnel today. Hmmm, oh things like that are so hard to remember."

Aang pushed the man to a wall and pressed his staff to the man's neck. "Where is she!"

Aang was going to press the staff a little harder, but a bottle came flying from the crowd, hitting his head. There were a few cuts on his head.

"Boo! Avatar let him go!"

"You think you can just push around whoever you want!"

"Die avatar!"

More bottle were being thrown, along with some rocks. An earthbender in the mob chucked a boulder at him.

Aang was able to earthbend the boulder away and put up an air shield against the rocks and bottle being thrown.

Ty Lee ran into the crowd, disabling most of the people who were throwing the various blunt items before one of the people hit her in the back of the head.

Osuushi dropped the rock and picked up Ty Lee.

"Sir, I think it's time to leave."

Reptile nodded and made a hole for him to fall through. A hole was made for Osuushi to fall through as well.

Aang blew the mob away with a huge gust of wind and quickly made a hole to follow them.

"Guys, let's go. We can't let them escape again!"

Sokka and Suki quickly followed.

* * *

A/N: Well, I'm going to leave it on a few cliffhangers, also if you want to tell me if I could do something a little bit better or anything like that, it would be well appreciated. Thanks for reading.


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